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The connection between inflammation and cancer was initially recognized by Rudolf Virchow in the nineteenth century. During the last decades, a large body of evidence has provided support to his hypothesis, and now inflammation is recognized as one of the hallmarks of cancer, both in etiopathogenesis and ongoing tumor growth. Infection with the pathogen Helicobacter pylori is the primary causal factor in 90% of gastric cancer (GC) cases. As we increase our understanding of how chronic inflammation develops in the stomach and contributes to carcinogenesis, there is increasing interest in targeting cancer-promoting inflammation as a strategy to treat GC. Moreover, once cancer develops and anti-cancer immune responses are suppressed, there is evidence of a substantial shift in the microenvironment and new targets for immune therapy emerge. In this chapter, we provide insight into inflammation-related factors, including T lymphocytes, macrophages, pro-inflammatory chemokines, and cytokines, which promote H. pylori-associated GC initiation and growth. While intervening with chronic inflammation is not a new practice in rheumatology or gastroenterology, this approach has not been fully explored for its potential to prevent carcinogenesis or to contribute to the treatment of GC. This review highlights current and possible strategies for therapeutic intervention including (i) targeting pro-inflammatory mediators, (ii) targeting growth factors and pathways involved in angiogenesis in the gastric tumor microenvironment, and (iii) enhancing anti-tumor immunity. In addition, we highlight a significant number of clinical trials and discuss the importance of individual tumor characterization toward offering personalized immune-related therapy.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder which is caused by a mutation of the huntingtin (HTT) gene. Although the pathogenesis of HD has been associated with inflammatory responses, if and how the immune system contributes to the onset of HD is largely unknown. Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are a group of innate-like regulatory T lymphocytes that can rapidly produce various cytokines such as IFN and IL4 upon stimulation with the glycolipid -galactosylceramide (-GalCer). By employing both R6/2 Tg mice (murine HD model) and J18 KO mice (deficient in iNKT cells), we investigated whether alterations of iNKT cells affect the development of HD in R6/2 Tg mice. We found that J18 KO R6/2 Tg mice showed disease progression comparable to R6/2 Tg mice, indicating that the absence of iNKT cells did not have any significant effects on HD development. However, repeated activation of iNKT cells with -GalCer facilitated HD progression in R6/2 Tg mice, and this was associated with increased infiltration of iNKT cells in the brain. Taken together, our results demonstrate that repeated -GalCer treatment of R6/2 Tg mice accelerates HD progression, suggesting that immune activation can affect the severity of HD pathogenesis.

Polyamines have been implicated in numerous biological processes, including inflammation and carcinogenesis. Homeostatic regulation leads to interconversion of the polyamines putrescine and the downstream metabolites spermidine and spermine. The enzyme spermine oxidase (SMOX), which back-converts spermine to spermidine, contributes to regulation of polyamine levels, but can also have other effects. We have implicated SMOX in gastric inflammation and carcinogenesis due to infection by the pathogen . In addition, we reported that SMOX can be upregulated in humans with inflammatory bowel disease. Herein, we utilized -deficient mice to examine the role of SMOX in two murine colitis models, infection and dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced epithelial injury. In -infected wild-type (WT) mice, there were marked increases in colon weight/length and histologic injury, with mucosal hyperplasia and inflammatory cell infiltration; these changes were ameliorated in mice. In contrast, with DSS, mice exhibited substantial mortality, and increased body weight loss, colon weight/length, and histologic damage. In -infected WT mice, there were increased colonic levels of the chemokines CCL2, CCL3, CCL4, CXCL1, CXCL2, and CXCL10, and the cytokines IL-6, TNF-α, CSF3, IFN-γ, and IL-17; each were downregulated in mice. In DSS colitis, increased levels of IL-6, CSF3, and IL-17 were further increased in mice. In both models, putrescine and spermidine were increased in WT mice; in mice, the main effect was decreased spermidine and spermidine/spermine ratio. With , polyamine levels correlated with histologic injury, while with DSS, spermidine was inversely correlated with injury. Our studies indicate that SMOX has immunomodulatory effects in experimental colitis polyamine flux. Thus, SMOX contributes to the immunopathogenesis of infection, but is protective in DSS colitis, indicating the divergent effects of spermidine.